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Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Part Quest

I am always looking for Small Parts for my projects.

For most of my projects I have standardized on a simple Battery connector, it is the same style that is used in many of the Propeller and Arduino Products. The connector is shown here attached to my PA-47, which is a Homebrew 15 Watt HF PA.

The Battery Connector on My PA-47 Project

The actual connector that I have been using is a little different than those that are readily available. This connector has smaller tabs that are used to solder it to the PCB. Because the tabs are smaller, this same connector can be use with proto-breadboards (with only a little difficulty) . The tabs are not exactly the size the breadboard would like. but it works. Also, because the pins are little smaller they fit into round drilled holes in the PCB. Note: Most of my PCB suppliers do not allow plated slots as necessary for many other battery connectors.

My Favorite DC Connectorfor Projects(unknown to me at the time,this is a PJ-102A)

My stash of these connectors is almost depleted. Somewhere along the way, I got the (wrong) idea that these connectors were called "PJ-007".

A quick (causal) search via FindChips found the PJ-007 was only available from Digi-Key, I had several other parts that I had planned to order from Digi-key, so I ordered 20 each PJ-007's, for about $12.00

The True PJ-007

Received, BUT NOT! what I wanted !

I received the PJ-007's, they are a similar style of connector, but they are about 1/2 the size that I was expecting. My quick and "Causal" search was too quick - now I have a bunch of very small connectors that I will probable never use.

I would have to look to my other suppliers and/or try to remember where I had previously purchased the desired connectors.

After several days of searching and trying to remember, I eventually found my source at Adafruit. But, the search of the Adafruit site was not exactly easy, as this part did not match any key words that I tried. I finally gave up and looked at the complete list of available parts, but still no joy.

I eventually found the connector on the Adafruit site as a "suggested part", while viewing the available 9 Volt Battery Clips (which is a nice clip with wires and a end connector).

But Adafruit description of the "suggested part" did not include a manufactures part number, there was just an order ID number - 373. I plan to add a few to my next Adafruit order.

But then:

While attempting to re-layout my PA-47 Board to correct and add some new features, I did a quick check of ALL of the parts and patterns before ordering a new set of boards. While looking at the Library part for the Battery Connector, I noticed that it included a spec sheet and URL for the connector. With a little research of the manufacture I found the desired part is a PJ-102A. A quick check of FindChips.com suggested the part is available from several suppliers.